The
Three and Four Musketeers Double the Swashbuckling Charm
by
Kristin Battestella
Producers
Alexander and Ilya Salkind (Superman) and director Richard
Lester (A Hard Day's Night) infamously doubled the adventure
with 1973's The Three Musketeers and
its 1974 sequel The Four Musketeers. Despite
the behind the scenes two for the price of one controversy, both
films remain charming with supersized Dumas spirit.
Young
d'Artagnan (Michael York) is off to join the King's Musketeers.
Unfortunately, he immediately finds himself dueling with not one but
three musketeers – the brooding Athos (Oliver Reed), boisterous
Porthos (Frank Finlay), and religious but romantic Aramis (Richard
Chamberlain). d'Artagnan seizes the chance to assist the musketeers
in fighting the villainous Rochefort (Christopher Lee), henchman to
the ruthless Cardinal Richelieu (Charlton Heston), who also conspires
against the King of France with Milady de Winter (Faye Dunaway) amid
stolen diamonds, secret letters, kidnappings, and revenge.
Opening
crescendos, swords slices, and clanging metal set the tone for The
Three Musketeers, which is also
subtitled as The Queen's Diamonds. Our
young hero isn't quite ready for this outfit with training
tumbles, bungling in the mud, and swinging and missing his quarry
amid rowdy musketeers, snotty enemies, and sassy attitudes. The
Three Musketeers is truly
cavalier with bawdy drinking, chuckling errors, and winking
asides – swords are cut in half, library shelves domino over,
scaffolding below makes a lover look more heroic when he jumps out
the window, and courtiers try to organize the king's dogs into
playing life size chess in the park. The well edited comedic timing
isn't slapstick, leaving room for French quips and tag team dead
pans. Against odds melees versus the Cardinal's Guards provide a
variety of action gags and fighting tricks accented by up close
winks, overhead shots, and wide angles. The intense pace is done in
camera – The Three Musketeers doesn't have to cut corners
with editing or special effects because everyone's kick ass shows.
Granted, the musketeers aren't fully developed as characters beyond
their lighthearted distinctions and some humorous padding is
unnecessary. However, the ensemble is up to any task with the right
delivery and period gravitas be it intrigue or wit, providing
charming moments that keep this familiar tale fresh without obvious
cues. Unlike contemporary romps, The Three Musketeers doesn't
need to show excessive raunchy thanks to subtle romantic winks and
rowdy laundry house brawls. The coordinated thieving, horseback
races, hidden passages, and betrayals culminate at the grandiose ball
before The Four Musketeers brings
viewers right back where we left off with narrations and credits
showing highlights from The Three Musketeers. Now
that d'Artagnan is a musketeer, the swashbuckling rescues
continue as our eponymous soldiers must thwart the subtitled Milady's
Revenge before battlefield canons and firing squad target
practice where no one can hit a thing. Although serious talk on coups
and religious strife becomes somewhat lost thanks to kidnappings,
intercepted messages, primitive submarine inventions, and daring
escapes; tender flashbacks deepen character histories. Swords,
poisons, and feathers fly as hiding in the water trough ruses and
stilts versus attack dogs don't work. In The Four Musketeers, the
famous trio has more to do, yet their convenient rescues feel
deus ex machina easy amid the disjointed plots – dilemmas are
quickly resolved without the wither tos and why fors because the
focus here is enjoying the good guys versus the bad guys and their
daring fights upon frosty bridges and frozen lakes. The terribly
risky but unique action looks like a lot of fun, keeping the swash in
swashbuckler alongside deceptions, confrontations, and darker aspects
of the novel that many adaptations gloss over in favor of Hollywood
trite. A lot's happening with protestant versus catholic, England
versus France, Buckingham plots, and front line encampments – the
sieges, assassinations, and strangulations at times conflict with the
humorous nunnery disasters. Villains montage over Tower of London
captures and La Rochelle victories as carriage chases and superb one
on one sword fights keep the kicking butt pace before a fiery finale
with killers in disguise, executions, revenge, and consequences.
What's
not to love about Michael York's (Romeo and Juliet) young,
handsome, and sweaty d'Artagnan? The foolish farm boy cum wannabe
musketeer is bonked on the head when picking his first fight but has
all the roguish charm required – tipping his hat to a lady before
promising to kill her other male friend and scaling the vines to her
balcony even if he doesn't exactly make it to the window. d'Artagnan
is earnest in love and war but is only granted a musketeer
consideration because of his renowned father while he proves his
worth. He's spirited but has a lot to learn as one woman after
another tries to get into bed with him or use him for her own
motives. d'Artagnan can't outwit the Cardinal but knows not to accept
his duplicitous offer even as he blindly and blissfully does what the
Queen tells him to do. The Three Musketeers is
largely about him doing most of the bumbling or heroics himself with
only peripheral musketeer assistance. By The Four
Musketeers, however, d'Artagnan
understands where Athos is coming from as the men bond in the
tavern over the women they are supposed to love. Oliver Reed's
(Paranoiac) Athos is an angry, ornery, sarcastic, and serious
but drunken leader reluctant to join d'Artagnan's follies – the
dark horse rarely seen in his musketeer frock. There has perhaps
never been a more perfect casting, as Reed is definitely believable
as a chip on his shoulder drunk wild man with a sword. The Four
Musketeers recalls his ruined
romance with Milady, and her murderous deception haunting Athos gives
Reed some scene chewing when this not one but two movies ploy
ironically doesn't provide much meaty drama for the ensemble.
Fortunately, Athos becomes like an elder brother to
d'Artagnan, threatening to kill anyone who touches a hair on his head
– all for one and one for all and all that.
Richard
Chamberlain's (The Thorn Birds) Aramis prays during a duel,
but it is just another crafty musketeer ruse. In fact, Aramis barely
talks in both films, merely standing around a lot and looking pretty
when not in the steam bath. He does suggest one plan of action, but
of course it goes completely awry with a kick in his groin to boot.
Frank Finlay's (Othello) larger than life Porthos also knocks
folks on the head with whatever is handy and picks the pocket of a
man who's down for the count. Porthos is a gambler making bets on
silly games when not eating and drinking in battle. He's sure to make
a fighting spectacle in the marketplace so they can steal more wine,
and his silly way of fighting – like dropping pots on the bad guys
– always helps at the perfect moment. Both Aramis and Porthos are
portrayed as a more circus styled duo where one can't seem to do
anything without the other. Neither is fully developed and both seem
to be there just because they have to be, bemusing as their moments
are. Likewise, Raquel Welch (Fantastic Voyage) as dressmaker
Constance Bonacieux has being a klutz as her main character
development. She's perky, bouncy, and uses a delicate nightie to her
advantage when not catching d'Artagnan's eye. Her husband's weakness
and the Queen's confidence in her are merely plot devices before she
herself is used in a kidnapping scheme in The Four Musketeers
that plays for both rousing humor and shocking, well, shocks.
It's
immediately clear to start The Three Musketeers that
Charlton Heston's (The Omega Man)
Cardinal Richelieu is that selfish kind of Man of God. He has
parades to himself and pays the bystanders to be there, stands out in
his purple regalia at court, and talks out both sides of his mouth to
the King. Richelieu uses the Queen's affairs with Buckingham to
pressure the King, gaining information from the top as well as his
tormented underlings. He captures people and tortures them only to
release them with money so they will become his friend –
effortlessly creating a network of spies and manipulation while he
remains Teflon and Rochefort does his really dirty work. Richelieu
has the most dialogue thanks to his numerous plots yet insists he has
no personal enemies – only the enemies of France. Christopher Lee
also looks even more nefarious with his eye patch and attitude as
Rochefort. He's suave in contesting the Cardinal's plans even if he
fears and hates him, and I would have loved to see these two together
in more than some blink and you miss it moments in Julius Caesar.
Lee has a rough, physical role and must match wits with each
musketeer – even if he's always foiled. Likewise charming and
deceiving in white or pristine in pearls, Faye Dunaway's (Don Juan DeMarco) Milady de Winter is undressed so all her clandestine
weapons can be pulled from inside her frock. The ladies also have
some dust ups before the boys come diving in through the window, and
Milady has more to do in The Four Musketeers – such
as luring
d'Artagnan to her chamber for some poisonous daggers about the bed.
Down shots over her bosom or close ups upon her lips reflect her
temptation, and Milady knows how to use her femininity to serve her
fatal nature or make her jailer fall in love with her and kill on
command. Again, I'd loved to have seen more of her in league with
Rochefort, but Milady remains ruthless right to the end.
Of
course, when you end up shooting two movies for the price of one, the
colorful production values between those pictures remain seamless
with rousing scores invoking the medieval fun amid extensive duels,
zany acrobatics, awning leaps, and clothesline spins. Such stunts
happen fast and in camera, natural action rather than a superficial,
slow motion effect. Horses, country roads, cobblestone squares, and
authentic buildings accent the Spanish filming locations as bleak
dungeons, barren quarters, and stained green patinas of the poor
contrast the marble palaces, grand staircases, and massive
chandeliers. Capes and big hats with even bigger plumes set off the
regal carriages, red interiors, luxurious bedrooms, and vintage
weaponry – daggers nestle inside the corsets even as the cinched
bosoms nearly burst from the colorful frocks, fabrics, and sparkling
parures. The costumes reflect one's station as the crowded, dirty,
plain marketplace bustles against the pompous regalia and music
likewise reflects the whimsical of the musketeers or leisurely at
court. While some may find the complex fight choreography stagnate
thanks to today's flash and dazzle whirlwinds; it's pleasing to
completely see the difficult riverside sword action, frigate raids,
and night time duels by lantern light. The actors earned their cuts
and bruises in these melees with no CGI assistance in the realistic,
well filmed battle scenes. Strangely, the DVDs offer options for
widescreen or full-frame viewing, and the lack of subtitles can make
audiences miss some of the sarcastic asides and quick quips.
Thankfully, both videos offer half hour behind the scenes features
with some of the late cast recalling the twofer controversies,
elaborate fights, and incomparable Oliver Reed.
Despite
some ups and downs in adapting the written humor and peril, The
Three Musketeers is a
straightforward story in full spirit of the novel. The
superficial characterizations could have been deeper, but they don't
have to be thanks to the roguish charm, courtly adventure, and witty
personality continued in The Four Musketeers. Kids can laugh
at the swashbuckler visuals while adults can chuckle at the cavalier
innuendo. Though intended as one epic film split in two after the
fact, The Three Musketeers and
The Four Musketeers can
be viewed together or separately for a timeless escapade.
Without its ensemble cast, The Three Musketeers would most definitely fail. Earlier versions are perhaps now too old for young folks, and the more recent The Musketeer falls on its dark story and talent-less unknowns. Disney’s production shines with its all around performers. Comedic moments come from each star, even former eighties villain Sutherland (The Lost Boys, now of 24 fame). Likewise, humorous and slick moments come from the delightful Tim Curry (The Rocky Horror Picture Show) as